We sent Issue 12, “Conversion Experience,” to the printer last week, and it returns in its corporeal form on Thursday, August 11. We’re very excited—it’s one of our best issues yet.
The issue features Kent Russell’s report from the Gathering of the Juggalos. Russell, whose last piece for the magazine was “Ryan Went to Afghanistan” in Issue 11, has written one of the funniest, strangest, and most obscene pieces we’ve published, as well as an empathetic account of what he describes as a satellite white underclass culture. The issue also contains a remarkable essay by Mark Greif on Stanley Cavell’s legacy as a philosopher and teacher, an excerpt from Helen DeWitt’s new novel, a short story by Siddhartha Deb, an essay on the politics and angst of gay marriage, and the beginning of an investigation into Gordon Lish’s career and the deep history of recent American fiction.
For the first time in a long while we’re publishing poetry, translated work by renowned Israeli poet and political activist Yitzhak Laor. The reviews section features a definitive history of the music review website Pitchfork; an appraisal of the musical The Book of Mormon and bro culture by Kristin Dombek, whose last piece for n+1 was “The Two Cultures of Life” in Issue 10; and Gideon Lewis-Kraus on Javier Cercas’s account of the momentous, failed Spanish coup of 1981. In the Politics section, Lawrence Jackson describes a return to the troubled black community of Baltimore, and in the Intellectual Situation, the editors consider the Libya invasion and the ethics of humanitarian intervention and (somewhat differently) the politics of GChat.
We’re looking forward to hearing what you think of the issue; subscribe now to receive a copy just as soon as we have them. If you would like to write about the issue or any of its contents and need materials in advance, please direct inquiries to cblumenkranz@nplusonemag.com.
